


Roadside Assistance

by snarechan



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Action/Adventure, Daemons, F/F, First Meetings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-15 09:33:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11803308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarechan/pseuds/snarechan
Summary: Cindy is called out to do some emergency repairs, and ended up needing a little help herself.





	Roadside Assistance

**Author's Note:**

> I've been sitting on this story for a SUPER LONG TIME so I'm grateful to Glyphenthusiast for helping me with my backlog of fanfics. \o/ I have another Aranea/Cindy story in-progress, but I love this one best out of the two so it's seeing the light of day first.

Cindy watched the sun dip lower. She could barely spot the edges of yellow that peeked over the desert sands, and soon, the sunset colors faded into the stars overhead. Hammerhead—with its quaint diner, gas mart, and her garage—weren't visible against the scene.

Nightfall approached and Cindy wasn't anywhere close to home.

She planted her foot on the accelerator and pushed the tow truck to its limits. Her work vehicle was lovingly maintained, but it was an old gal. Cindy knew she risked expelling too much gas and could wind up stranded, or something under the hood giving under the pressure. But she couldn't stop here. She didn't have a choice, just like she didn't have a choice when those folks from Insomnia begged for assistance.

The call had come in this afternoon. Noctis and his good ol' boys were out to sea, headed to Altissia. She’d given Dave and his hunters a ring, but they'd been otherwise occupied, too. Thinking about families in need, of an orphan girl that could be with her parents instead of living in a lonely garage, made it easier for Cindy to decide on answering the cry for help herself. She'd equipped her tool belt, loaded up her personal repair kit, and rushed off – consequences be damned.

Well, damned she was all right. Cindy repaired the Lucian car just fine and escorted those folks to a motel parking lot where they could hunker down in. Since they were refugees from the capital they had little in the way of money that was good in these parts, but she’d ensured their vehicle was safe once again. She wasn't as lucky. On the return trip a careless man with an overheated radiator set her behind, and now it was getting dark outside.

"Okay Cici, keep it together," she consoled herself. With a shaky hand, Cindy flipped on the headlights and changed stations on the radio. She turned up the volume in the hopes that if she forgot about the late hour then she might reach Hammerhead before she knew it.

The music didn't block out the sound of something groaning like metal being warped and twisted past its threshold, though. A smoky, purple and black tinged portal opened in the middle of the road. Cindy slammed on the brakes.

There wasn't any room to get around the gaping hole. Guardrails blocked her in on either side, turning a fixture of safety into the jaws of a deadly trap. Her breathing became erratic as a giant fist reached out of the ground, followed by a sword bigger than her tow truck, and revealed the monster to be an Iron Giant.

"Of all the blasted—" Cindy hollered. She shifted the vehicle into reverse, but only a grinding noise responded to her attempt. Cursing again, Cindy tore open the glove compartment where she'd stashed Paw-paw's specialty weapon. Unlike her veteran grandfather, she wasn't a soldier, but Cindy had accepted the modified flare gun he'd customized for her defense regardless.

She fumbled with her weapon as the Iron Giant took hold of her vehicle and shook it. Cindy leapt from the tow truck before she could be smashed against the dashboard or worse, and landed hard on the ground, right at the feet of the daemon. The flare gun slid away; metal clanked over the pavement. She scrambled between the daemon's legs to escape the truck dropping on top of her. Gloved hands scrabbled on the blacktop for her weapon. When her fingers wrapped around the handle Cindy flipped onto her back and aimed.

"You leave my baby alone, you pesky varmint!" She fired the cartridge at the monster's disproportionate head. The monster lurched at the attack. Smoke drifted off its back and shoulders as manmade light exploded all over its body, the Iron Giant sent into a rage by her retaliation.

Cindy's assault wasn't all that lit up the area, however. From her sprawled position on the ground she saw several flood lights switch on. An Imperial airship had arrived.

 _Just dandy_ , Cindy thought. She shielded her eyes from the too-bright exterior of the Niflheim carrier ship. At least the Iron Giant was distracted from hurting her. The daemon swung its sword at the transport, which missed as the aircraft maneuvered away from the massive blade.

The rear hatch opened. Cindy expected an entire infantry of Magitek Troopers to descend and finish off the monster, and no doubt her with it. Instead, a knight in black and red armor leapt out, lance first.

The spearhead met with the pointed end of the Iron Giant's sword. Metal clanged hard enough together to set off a small sound wave that distorted the air around them. The warrior kept her lance in place and bent her body until the sharpened ends of her boot heels touched down on the edge of the monster's weapon. She ran along the length of the broadsword and brandished her lance, chopping off the daemon's head in one clean, practiced motion. What was left of the Iron Giant's body collapsed to its knees and melted into whisping pools of darkness that faded into nothing.

The knight back-flipped in the air and landed outside the ring of fumy ooze. She twirled her weapon one-handed and secured it to her back. With a scoff, she planted her hands on her hips and said, " _That_ was disappointing. I could have sent Wedge or Biggs to handle this. Ah well. How you holding up, Miss— Hey!"

She skirted Cindy's initial swing with her wrench, and performed a cartwheel to dodge the backswing. "Calm down, lady! I saved you. Or is this the thanks you show everyone that does you a favor?"

" _Thank you?_ " Cindy asked, incredulous. "I ain't showing gratitude to some Nif scoundrel. Now go on, git! Shoo!"

The knight caught the wrench in a firm hold. Cindy gave it several tugs, but couldn't dislodge the tool. The woman had the nerve to laugh at Cindy's antics. She fumed and contemplated kicking the warrior in the shin, but her next words stopped Cindy short. "You're cute, but wrong. I'm not associated with those hacks anymore. _Trust me._ "

She didn't release her wrench, but she ceased struggling. Cindy side-eyed the knight as she asked, "What, you some kind of turncoat?"

"Heh. Let's say I wasn't up to renewing my contract with them after meeting your moody royal highness. The perks of being a mercenary for hire."

"You've met the prince?" Cindy asked, bewildered now. She knew Noctis and his entourage were up to their armpits in trouble – rushing off to an arranged marriage and then away from Imperial forces after negotiations fell through, but they'd never mentioned allies like this before.

"We've crossed paths a few times, usually between my saving wayward civilians from daemon attacks." She directed a keen eye at Cindy and let go of her wrench to cross both arms across her chest.

Cindy reluctantly backed off. "Beg my pardon. Can't be too sure about folks these days."

"None taken," she said, and nodded once. Cindy couldn't believe how blasé the knight acted toward the encounter, although maybe she shouldn't be. If she was so different as to be convinced to willingly leave the Empire it might explain some things. That lot tended to be wound up tighter than a bandersnatch.

"It's getting to be past bedtime," the knight remarked. She slid back her faceplate to get a better look at the sky. The sun had completely disappeared. The stars that dotted up above were far fewer in number than Cindy was used to seeing this distance from cities or lit outposts. The way the knight frowned at the sight made Cindy wonder if she noticed the change, too.

"Do you need a ride back to wherever you were heading?" she asked. The question broke Cindy from her reverie.

"Oh. I don't reckon'…" Cindy started to say, but they both took in the state of her tow truck. It had landed on its tires, but at the cost of them getting punctured and going flat. Gouges where the Iron Giant's fingers had grabbed and held it dented both sides of the vehicle. "It might not look like much, but this truck and I have been through the wringer together. I can't just leave it here."

"Hah! That's what you're worried about? My airship is equipped to carry every MA-X unit in production. Your truck will fit just fine." She jerked her thumb in the direction of her transport. "It's no trouble. Just consider Aranea Highwind and my grunts at your service. So long as you don't threaten to beat anyone’s faces in, we should be fine. That's my job, after all."

The knight held a hand to her helmet and spoke into a communicator, her words muffled but authoritative. As the transport descended at her command, the airship kicked up sand and made their hair and clothes whip around them. Cindy grabbed the bill of her baseball cap to keep it from flying off and into the desert.

Cindy watched the knight, Aranea, gaze up at her ship. It was almost fond, much like the way other people described Cindy's expression when admiring a car. "Alrighty, but I owe ya one. I've never worked on a military vessel before, but I learn right quick. Let me know if you ever need a tune-up, free of charge."

"Rodger that, grease monkey."

"Friends call me Cindy." She held out a hand. It was the one holding the wrench, so she hurriedly presented her free hand in its stead.

"Heh," was all Aranea said. They shook on it. Cindy smiled and found herself feeling relaxed and safe for the first time that night.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my [writing blog on Tumblr](http://snaurus.tumblr.com/) for more content!


End file.
